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Charlie
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« Reply #15 on: June 17, 2009, 08:49:07 AM » |
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Nice one, Nina! The round and flat form of LL is one of my favorite things about this variety. Here's hoping more buds open than drop this year!
Charlie
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nina
Posts: 134
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« Reply #16 on: June 27, 2009, 01:43:27 PM » |
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They keep opening! I am very happy!
The peak heat is still not on, let us hope for the best.
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roadrunner
Posts: 376
Cochise Co., AZ
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« Reply #17 on: June 27, 2009, 06:19:48 PM » |
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Hi Charlie, I'm also having some bud drop issues with Living Legend as well as a few others namely First Lady and Blonde Ambition. All my plants are growing in containers in a small greenhouse which has been getting into the mid 90s in the afternoon lately. The humidity has also been quite low till recently so I assume the bud dropping is due to stress. I've been getting one good bloom out of about every 4 buds on the LL and only 1 bloom out of 7 buds on the First Lady. Frustrating to say the least since several other plants are blooming nicely. Anyway the latest LL bloom was interesting with the petaloids which I haven't seen before on this plant. I'll try to post a picture but I haven't had any luck doing that yet.
Dave
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nina
Posts: 134
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« Reply #18 on: June 28, 2009, 12:26:22 AM » |
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Hi, Dave,
Very beautiful bloom.
My greenhouse is very hot, and very, very humid in the summer, and LL did not like that last year.
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Charlie
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« Reply #19 on: June 28, 2009, 08:17:19 PM » |
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When Living Legend is protected from thrips, it always blooms like crazy around here. Everyone who grows hibiscus should find a source for the low toxicity, approved for organic food growers pesticide called spinosad and keep it handy. When bud drop starts, spray the buds and tops and see if it does not make a difference. More often than not, it will.
Below are a couple of photos of Living Legend plants blooming well in full sun summer outdoors and in a very hot and humid summer greenhouse. Granted these are larger plants at least 4 years old, but as they show LL can be a massive bloomer when insects are kept out of the buds.
Charlie
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Darkhorse
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« Reply #20 on: June 28, 2009, 11:35:41 PM » |
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WOW!!! Charlie, I have never seen so many blooms at once on a hib as there are on the Living Legend you posted! I will be sure to look into the organic pesticide. I haven't had an issue with bud drop *yet* with any of your cv's. I do have a Fiery Furnace that I got at the end of April that's dropped a couple. So far I have chalked it up to stress, as it got miserably hot all of a sudden here in the bay area. Crossing my fingers that it resolves itself. I'm even more thrilled now that I got a 4" LL from you guys in the mail a couple of weeks ago. Now I really can't wait for it to get bigger.  |
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"They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." -Edgar Allan Poe
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nina
Posts: 134
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« Reply #21 on: June 29, 2009, 01:34:25 PM » |
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Charlie, really an amazing, amazing bush!!!!!!!!!!
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Charlie
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« Reply #22 on: July 01, 2009, 10:06:47 AM » |
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Nina, I was thinking about the way your hibiscus react to your greenhouse in summer heat that is different than what I would expect. Do you add any shade during summer? Shade cloth or shade paint for the top? All the growth factors operate together. Heat and sunlight and water and humidity are all interrelated. If one goes way up others must compensate.
What I am saying is that when the temperature goes way up it is necessary to lower the amount of sunlight and increase the water for the growth conditions to remain ideal. If both temperature and sunlight increase the amount of stress on the plants changes a lot. That would explain the bud drop and other effects on the flowers of some varieties inside the greenhouse.
One of the best things about hanging some 50 percent shade cloth in summer is that it is so much more pleasant for people to work in the greenhouse!
Just a thought about this hibiscus mystery.
Charlie
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nina
Posts: 134
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« Reply #23 on: July 01, 2009, 01:33:16 PM » |
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This year, the hibs in my greenhouse enjoy under palm trees leaves ...which are an excelent heat isolation and gives a good sun protection, too. ...They have all the comfort, they just have to behave themselves!
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Charlie
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« Reply #24 on: July 01, 2009, 01:52:58 PM » |
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Aha! That sounds so nicely tropical....
I wish you and them the best success this summer.
Charlie
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nina
Posts: 134
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« Reply #25 on: July 21, 2009, 02:13:36 PM » |
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Not good news. As soon as the real heat has started, LL has started discarding all the buds. I will not let her produce buds any more, I have pinched all the branches and she will just have time to form new branches and new buds till autumn. And then, you will witness a festival of those perfect glossy blooms.
ciao, N
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Charlie
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« Reply #26 on: July 23, 2009, 07:11:11 AM » |
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Our real heat has just started here, too. In contrast, my big outdoor bush of Living Legend has just started blooming for the year. I sprayed the whole garden for thrips twice in the last week and now the flowers are coming. Before I sprayed we were losing 10 buds for every flower and now it seems to be down to about 2 buds lost for every flower. After the next spray that will be down to 1 bud lost for every 2 flowers and if I keep up the spraying after that we will only lose the occasional bud.
Thrips populations respond to weather, too, and dramatically increase as the weather warms up. Just because they are hard to see does not mean they are not there. One must spray for them with the right pesticides or they will cause massive loss of buds and scratch up a bunch of flowers that do open. American brands of pesticides that work on thrips are Spinosad, Orthene (acephate), Avid, and Pylon. The first 2 are available to anyone and work the best, anyway.
Charlie
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